Like Ewan McGregor talks about in his "Long Way Down" DVD... I don't care about facts and figures too much... I don't care about the particulars of "what happened when" that awful much... what I want is to breathe in a land, hear its people talk about it... I want to come to know the personality, the spirit, of a land... not just compile a list of the Tourist Traps I notched on my Travelers Belt

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A New Year

Where does the time go? How can the nights be so long and the weeks so short? After Sally died, in Aug, I started my new "adventure" in life. I got aquainted with a good looking neighbor woman and I said to myself life is good, again. You see Sally and I had talked about my future, after her death. We both knew it was coming and Sally said she was ready to go and she told me "go for it". She'd made it to her School Reunion and was now almost ready. You see we still hadn't seen two of the grandsons, since we'd been back in MI. Now we have 22 grand children and some of them are from blended families but, we still had them. We knew we wouldn't see some of them but the 2 grandsons were special but we just hadn't connected. Time was short and hospice had everything all set up for her at home. Sun Aug 21, 2010 she came home from the hospital just about 11 AM. Just about everybody was here and finally the two grandsons showed up, almost simultaneously, paid their final respects and then she went 15 minutes later. My 2 daughters Lisa, Kitt and I were the only ones in the house as the rest had gone for lunch so they could eat and talk. My daughter, Kitt, looked over and said "she's not breathing". What did I say, I don't remember? She went SO PEACEFUL, SO QUIET, so unlike her in so many ways. We had a wonderful memorial just the way Sally wanted it.

Trisha holding Carter and Sally holding Ethan

This is a little after the facts, but I just ran across this in my granddaughters blog. I decided it should be put here also.Grandma went to be with the Lord on Saturday, August 21st, 2010. I have many wonderful memories of Grandma. Here are just a few that come to mind... I can still see Grandma sitting at the table drinking her coffee and having burnt toast in the morning. She loved her burnt toast! I remember going with her and Grandma Bradway to the Anchor House. We couldn't wait to eat there :), I was lucky enough to have breakfast with her, Grandpa, Aunt Lisa and my boys there a couple months ago. Although, now it is no longer the Anchor House, but is called Daniel's. I will remember Grandma's "Mary Kay" room. Erin and I always loved to sneak in there and snoop around. We also loved the lip gloss we got every Christmas that was hidden in their Christmas Tree. Grandma was a great cook. I always loved her homemade Macaroni and cheese. It was the best! I know Erin's favorite was her strawberry cake. I just got the recipe from Aunt Lisa and made it over the 4th of July weekend. My last memory of Grandma will be stopping by to visit with her and Grandpa on our way home from the Towne reunion a couple of weeks ago. Grandpa made us rootbeer floats and we just chatted. I will cherish that last hug...she hugged me so tight!

I love you, Grandma! Until we meet again in Heaven someday... Trisha

It didn't work out with the neighbor for many reasons one of which, was her movies everynight and soaps during the day. Our, new to us, mobile home is working out pretty good for me and especially more since I picked up a rescue dog. I think the dog rescued me from deep, deep depression and I rescued her from her former life of abuse.

Rosie Making Herself Comfy

I think my greatest gift this last Holiday season is when, for the first time ever, Rosie (dawg) junped into my lap one evening when I was just sitting here in the dark. No TV on or anything else just sitting and remembering. Since that time she is in my lap whenever she is able. Of course she didn't know Sally but dogs do know when something is wrong. I know, as the kids say, the good Lord hooked us up, .

Everyday I take Rosie and we go over to Joe and Lisa's place where they have a few acres and Rosie runs. When I first got her she ran so much that we could not trust her at all. She would not pay attention, she just went and went and went. Usually about a mile she had to run and investigate everything in sight. I borrowed a shock collar and it has done wonders. It hurts me more than her when I do have to use it but now she can really run and I do not have to worry. She likes to run out about 100 yds and then when I shout she runs back at full speed and sort of gives me a hi-5 as she passes by not once or twice, but continuously while we're out there. Now with over a foot of light fluffy snow on the ground she looks like a snowmobile as she is pushing the snow with her chest. I can do nothing but laugh as she goes through her antics, like hitting a snow drift and tumbling over and over. Today was the first time she actually got tired after only 45 minutes and was ready to come home. She actually walked with me for a few minutes and as she recuperated, then she was runnning again.